Sydney Thompson Dobell

Farewell

Can I see thee standOn the looming land?Dost thou wave with thy white handFarewell, farewell?I could think that thou art near,Thy sweet voice is in mine ear,Farewell, farewell!While I listen, all things seemSinging in a singing dream,Farewell, farewell!Echoing in an echoing dream,Farewell, farewell!

Yon boat upon the sea,It floats 'twixt thee and me,I see the boatman listless lie;He cannot hear the cryThat in mine ears doth ringFarewell, farewell!Doth it pass him o'er and o'er,Heard upon the shore behind,Farewell, farewell!Heard upon the ship before,Farewell, farewell!Like an arrow that can dartViewless thro' the viewless wind,Plain on the quivering string,And plain in the victim's heart?

Are there voices in the sky,Farewell, farewell?Am I mocked by the bright air,Farewell, farewell?The empty air that everywhereSilvers back the sung reply,Farewell, farewell!While to and fro the tremulous accents fly,Farewell, farewell!Now shown, now shy,Farewell, farewell!Now song, now sigh,Farewell, farewell!Toy with the grasping heart that deems them nigh,Come like blown bells in sudden wind and high,Or far on furthest verge in lingering echoes die,Farewell, farewell!Farewell, farewell, farewell!

Oh, Love! what strange dumb FateHath broken into voice to see us hope?Surely we part to meet again?Like one struck blind, I gropeIn vain, in vain;I cannot hold a single sense to tellThe meaning of this melancholy bell,Farewell, farewell!I touch them with my thought, and small and greatThey join the swaying swell,Farewell, farewell!Farewell, farewell, farewell!

Aye, when I felt thee fallingOn this heaving breast-Aye, when I felt thee prestNearer, nearer, nearer,Dearer, dearer, dearer-Aye, while I saw thy face,In that long last embrace,The first, the last, the best-Aye, while I held thee heart to heart,My soul had pushed off from the shore,And we were far apart;I heard her calling, calling,From the sea of nevermoreFarewell, farewell!Fainter, fainter, like a bellRung from some receding ship,Farewell, farewell!The far and further knellDid hardly reach my lip,Farewell, farewell!Farewell, farewell, farewell!

Away, you omens vain!Away, away!What! will you not be driven?My heart is trembling to your augury.Hence! Like a flight of seabirds at a gun,A thousand ways they scatter back to Heaven,Wheel lessening out of sight, and swoop again as one!Farewell, farewell!Farewell, farewell, farewell!

Arouse my heart! arouse!This is the sea: I strike these wooden walls:The sailors come and go at my command:I lift this cable with my hand:I loose it and it falls:Arouse! she is not lost,Thou art not plighted to a moonlight ghost,But to a living spouse.Arouse! we only part to meet again!Oh thou moody main,Are thy mermaid cells a-ringing?Are thy mermaid sisters singing?The saddest shell of every cellRinging still, and ringingFarewell, farewell!To the sinking sighing singing,To the floating flying singing,To the deepening dying singing,In the swell,Farewell, farewell!And the failing wailing ringing,The reaming dreaming ringingOf fainter shell in deeper cell,To the sunken sunken singing,Farewell, farewell!Farewell, farewell!Farewell, farewell, farewell?